Here’s a terrific list of the best apps for writing on your iPad that is going to be of some great use for students of just about any age. Whether you’re in primary school or attending a university, you need to have a better way to take notes and jot down ideas than your standard notebook.

"This tool is designed to help you evaluate the level of proficiency that you or your students have with the 21st Century Fluencies, which are outlined extensively in the Literacy is Not Enough, (Crockett, Lee et. al.; 2011). The Fluency Snapshot Tool can be incorporated either with individual students or with groups.

"There are 10 statements for each Fluency for you to consider. As you move through the statements, chose a value you feel represents how well the individual or group has demonstrated the characteristic. Better still, have your students assess themselves and discuss the outcome. You now have a baseline and can compare your results in each Fluency to determine where focus and improvement may be needed.

"Revisit this again in the future and compare to the baseline to see evidence of growth!"

While it’s not uncommon to hear students say “I hate school,” some are really suffering and desperately want out.

I can relate.

I became an educator not because I loved school, but because I was bored and miserable in school. I wanted to figure out how to change that for others. I started this blog to share ideas about how to do that.

Like my own experience, many students today are bored and disengaged for many hours each day, despite the best efforts of their teachers and parents to try to help them make the most of school. Many are depressed. They feel a complete lack of control over their lives, and have a bleak view of the future.

Jim Lerman's insight:

This seems like a good idea to me. Please read on and contribute if the concept resonates with you. Also, please pass along to your network, if you can.

The solution for education is that schools disappear? Well no longer an option, but what I see most viable and relevant is that the school (Students, Teachers and Parents) are processed. Some may say, that is not possible need help from outside, I replied already hit bottom and from inside the school is feasible to begin the transformation.

Alyssa Levy, became an influential role model for me as a teacher of writing. Alyssa consistently modeled using her own writing notebook in lessons with my students. I noticed how Alyssa not only told students how to write, but she actually showed them step by step through thinking aloud and then writing in front of them with her writing notebook and a document camera. She modeled what she knew needed to happen for my students. My grade level team, principal, and students all became better writers in part directly due to Alyssa's demonstration of her own thinking and writing.

Now, as a literacy coach myself, I am taking what I learned from Alyssa to help the teachers and students in my schools. By using my own writing to teach writing, I'm not just telling teachers and students what needs to happen, but I'm showing them in a step by step, intentional manner. The only tools needed to do this are my own thinking made visible to students (thinking aloud and oral rehearsal), my personal writing notebook, a document camera that projects my real-time writing, and a captive audience of student writers.

If anything ever published on The Learning Network could be said to have “gone viral,” it is last February’s “200 Prompts for Argumentative Writing,” which we created to help teachers and students participate in our inaugural Student Editorial Contest.

"Well, this year we’re back with the Second Annual Student Editorial Contest (get yours in by March 9!), and, to go with it, we’ve updated last year’s list with new questions and what we hope is more useful categorization.

"So scroll through the 301 prompts below that touch on every aspect of contemporary life — from politics to sports, culture, education and technology — and see which ones most inspire you to take a stand. Each question comes from our daily Student Opinion feature, and each provides links to free Times resources for finding more information."

T.H.E. Journal asked educators for the most creative storytelling apps available, and we did a little digging on our own, too. The tools and apps we found turn students into novelists, artists, and moviemakers with each tool bringing its own powerful mechanism for transforming the traditional narrative--both inside and outside the classroom...

"Write About provides many (and I mean many) images with writing prompts. Students can write their response and do an audio recording of it. Teachers can create virtual classrooms and provide individual written feedback to student writing. Student creations can be shared publicly or just with their classmates. Teachers can change prompts or upload their own photos.

"I think Write About is going to be an exceptional site, in particular for English Language Learners. It combines visual imagery, writing, speaking and listening – not to mention an authentic audience."

Call for online Makerspace resources

I'm happy to announce that I have just been appointed Director of the brand new Possibility Zone Makerspace at Kean University. This is part of a long-term grant and will have a focus on STEM students and professors and the preparation of pre-service K-12 STEM teachers.

As part of the project, I plan to start a new Scoop.it topic on Makerspaces very soon. I'm looking for blogs, websites, wikis, videos, ezines, ebooks, paper.li feeds, etc. that deal with Makerspaces and things related to them. Basically, I want to set up an information flow to curate.

If you have an idea or resource for me to check out, could you please send it? I think a helpful way would be to use the "Reactions" link that appears on the bottom left of this Scoop.it window when you mouse over it. (If you're reading this, it's likely that you can see it now.) Please be sure to include URLs in your suggestions.

Thank you so much for your help. I'm really looking forward to this new opportunity and hope to be of assistance to others through the new topic here on Scoop.it.

Sincerely,

Jim Lerman

PS - The photo is not of our Makerspace at Kean, but one at the Cincinnati Public Library. We have just started to create /design our space. What fun!

Authentic Youth/Adult Connection on the Subway

As I waited on the platform for the subway, a large fieldtrip group entered the station. Maybe 100 kids. They and I got on the train.

I sat next to a lady with many students in front of us.

The lady struck up a conversation with a student.

What grade are you in?

6th he said.

Wow, you're reaching your stride as a student. Adults start to reach their stride in their 30s which is part way into their career. You are about that far into being a student. These years are really important. Learn what you can. Your history is important and resulted in where you are today.

She asked him questions about school, what he liked, etc.

She told him she could tell he would be successful because he was so well poised and respectful.

He smiled. Well not smiled, exactly. He just looked happy.

She shared her career. She operates the air train to JFK.

She said to be successful, use tech or fix tech.

She asked: Which will you do?

He said he loved robotics.

She told him to thank his teachers because it is really hard to take so many students on a trip and his teachers must really care a lot about them.

He said he understood and he would.

I watched his face. Hanging on her words. He was soaking them up.

I wondered if he had adults at home to share such advice. Maybe not.

She thanked him for being in her life today. She told him how impressed she was to encounter a young man who knew how to engage with a stranger in such a mature way. She said she would say a prayer at church this weekend for putting a fine young man to speak with in front of her.

I sat amazed with her rapport with a young person and ability to connect. She took the time to hear his voice.

She got off the train.

The student's friends came over and laughed. They said it was weird for a stranger to strike up a conversation.

He told them to stop. Don't be a hater. There are good people in the world...even when they are strangers and we need to be ready to hear them. He told them she had words of wisdom and he respected her.

Adults, how are you inspiring the youth standing in front of you and how you preparing them to listen?

Tapping the deepest energies of teachers, or any employees, requires a connection with big, meaningful themes that promise a significant, positive effect on the world. The themes contain simple, truthful, future-oriented plot lines—the elements of a story—that provide context for the daily work and help one refocus on larger goals. The more whole hearted the embrace of the goals, the more the hidden resources of the inner self are activated.

At a time of great transformation in the world, there are no shortages of themes to pick from. But teachers have special opportunities to tell a magnificent story about themselves and their profession:

School continues to be caught in a backwash of endless reform/deform. Much of what is passed off as reform is rhetoric and the use of language in deceptive ways. Teaching is a vocation which should give voice to those who engage in it. Is that actually happening?

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